Business Destroyed In Bulldozer Rampage 8 Years Ago Reopens

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GRANBY, Colo. (CBS4)– Almost eight years after an angry resident used a fortified bulldozer to terrorize Granby, the last business that had to rebuild has opened.

The building where the Gambles Appliance Store was located was just one destroyed by Marvin Heemeyer. Town officials say he was angry about a zoning dispute and targeted the town hall, the newspaper and several other buildings.

June 4, 2004, was the date of Heemayer’s shocking rampage through town in a Komatsu D355-A that he had armored with giant steel walls. Heemayer killed himself inside the bulldozer after 90 minutes of destruction, leaving an estimated $5 million of damage in his wake.

“It was devastating,” said Rhonda Farrell. “The bulldozer was devastating to our family.”

“My life was turned upside down in a heartbeat,” her husband Casey said.

The Farrells rebuilt the store in the old location. CBS4’s Evrod Cassimy asked why it took so long to rebuild.

“Money is the biggest thing and deciding that we wanted to rebuild again,” Casey Farrell explained “I mean, overcoming the emotional side of it.”

It was an emotional Friday for those at the ribbon cutting with many of the town’s residents talking how about emotional the day of the destruction was.

But with Gambles Appliances back in place, the scars Heemayer left are almost totally erased, with just a small pile of bricks from the original Gambles building remaining.

“There’s a history here,” said Caren Welcome, a Granby resident on hand for the ribbon-cutting. “Eventually we hope to have some pictures in here and stuff that shows the history of this building and this location.”